Ways to improve smackdown

[Guest]

1. Retire Hulk Hogan as soon as possible and take him off tv.

 

2. Take Vince McMahon off tv.

 

3. Move a couple of main eventers/upper mid carders to Raw, so some new midcarders can move up. My suggestions would be Jericho and Edge. This would also strengthen Raw.

 

4. Make it live. I find myself not being excited for Smackdown, because I know it has already been taped and I've read what is going to happen. Raw has an anything can happen feel.

 

5. Bring up more cruiserweights for the cruiserweight division and stop showing Tajiri vs Kidman every week. I thought this feud would have blown off at Backlash and they would have debuted some new cruiserweights by now, but they keep on with this pointless Tajiri/Kidman feud. Why exactly are they fighting again?

 

6. Switch the European title to Smackdown, so the midcarders on Smackdown have a title to fight for. It is useless to have it on Raw, because they have the IC title.

 

 

Those are about all I have.

[Guest Anglesault]

1. Push Kurt Angle.

 

Now, to your points.

 

3. Move a couple of main eventers/upper mid carders to Raw, so some new midcarders can move up. My suggestions would be Jericho and Edge. This would also strengthen Raw.

 

Edge's boring wouldn't help Raw.

 

I thought this feud would have blown off at Backlash and they would have debuted some new cruiserweights by now, but they keep on with this pointless Tajiri/Kidman feud. Why exactly are they fighting again?

 

Kidman claims that his pointeless cruiser moves are better than tajiri's pointless cruiser moves. Or something like that.

[Guest]

7. have it stop sucking.

 

That would solve ALL the ptoblems.

[Guest Dangerous A]

One thing I would do is start giving these midcard guys some personalities instead of lumping them together as a collective. It's discouraging to see a heap of talent that need individual programs and then they are in the back betting on Mark Henry. Raw has individual segments for their talent. Some work and some don't, but at least they are given the oppurtunity to get over on their own. From the looks of things though, they looked to be starting this on the last SD. Problem is it may already be too late.(hence the ratings)

[Guest TheMikeSC]

Vince HAS to give somebody else the job of head writer.

 

I'd like to see a comparison of where ratings, buyrates, and attendance were when Steph was named head writer and compare them to now.

 

I still think Flair, Raven, Dreamer, and Heyman could do the booking better than almost anybody right now.

             -=Mike

[Guest phoenixrising]

Raw has individual segments for their talent. Some work and some don't, but at least they are given the oppurtunity to get over on their own.

 

I like those little segments on RAW, gives it a kind of old school feel, where the wrestlers get to sell their upcoming match and try to get their character/gimmick over with the fans.  Unfortunately for SD, Vince is there, and it is apparently stipulated somewhere that he must appear in at least five segments.  For example, where's the whole Stacy affair going?  They make out, she looks at other wrestlers, she brings people to see Vince.  Whoop dee do.  Only getting to see Stacy keeps me interested during those segments.  How about using a few of those segments to introduce some of your talent to the audience, like those cruiserweights you got?  Bottom line, fans have a better chance to identify with the wrestlers on RAW, and the same thing needs to be done for Smackdown as well.

[Guest Anglesault]

How about using a few of those segments to introduce some of your talent to the audience, like those cruiserweights you got?  

 

What will you do? Roll out a trampoline next to the ring and let them flip for five minutes? And how is the crowd going to tell the difference? is one guy "The guy who does three flips into an armdrag" and another " the masked guy who does three flips into an armdrag?" I need answers damnit!

[Guest papacita]

1. Stop basing feuds on stupid things like t-shirts and shampoo. I realize most of this "You Suck" stuff is an effort to try and keep people from saying "What?" on Smackdown, but they can come up with better reasons to feud than a damn shirt. It's not that hard to find ways for people not to like each other.

 

2. If they're serious about pushing Edge as one of their main stars, they need to give Edge a little more depth to his character, cuz right now he's a human cartoon character (anybody else feel like they were watching an episode of Looney Tunes last week when he switched the shirt?). The feud with Angle would lead to good matches, but I say they need to involve him in an emotional angle...something that forces him to be serious. If I were booking the WWF, I'd probably do an angle with him and Stacy Keibler, where it looks like Edge has fallen in love with her and she and Vince McMahon are manipulating him or something like that. You could even throw Val Venis in there, since Edge is married to his sister (I think) and have them have a little feud before Stacy breaks Edge's heart and he basically snaps. The female fans (that I know anyway) would eat an angle like this up, Val and Edge would be elevated slightly, and most important of all, Edge wouldn't be so damn goofy and it'd be easier to put him in an intense feud with the Jerichos and the Angles of the fed. But then again, a lot of that really depends on Edge's acting skills, but I think that would generate a little more interest in the program.

 

3. They need more consistent storylines. A few weeks ago, the main storyline was the alliance between Angle and Jericho running wild over Smackdown...now what the hell happened to that??? This is a little more of a personal preference thing than anything else, but I actually enjoyed watching the show with those two together leading into Backlash. I just wish they would use storylines that last for longer than 3-4 weeks.

 

4. They need a strong heel force whose last name isn't McMahon. Jericho seems to be doing some good stuff right now. Maybe he should start a stable (Canadian Mafia maybe) based on helping him regain the Undisputed Title, sorta like 4 Horseman 2002. Speaking for myself, I like wrestling more when it actually looks like the heels have a chance of winning and the faces are the underdogs.

 

5. Let the fans make up their own minds who they like and don't like...and this mainly goes to Tajiri's heel turn. I mean the week after Tajiri lost the CW title, Torrie comes out in a kimono (sp?) and Cole immediately starts selling Tajiri as a jerk and an idiot. He hadn't even done anything heelish yet, and it seemed like Cole just turns on him overnight. Like I said back then, the announcers shouldn't hafta tell the fans why they should like or hate a wrestler, the fans should be able to make that conclusion themselves. I guess Mark Henry goes in here too. Why should we like him? Because he can bend a frying pan? Because he can lift cars? His feats of strength aren't interesting to me, because you know the WWF wouldn't ask him to do it if he couldn't. It just seems like they're trying too hard to get us to like him. Although I do kinda like the thing with him and Faarooq, I think they should let the fans decide that they like him before they start pushing him over guys like Storm and Val.

 

6. A major singles title other than the World. I don't think I really hafta elaborate here. Did I mention that I think they should SPLIT THE TITLES? Cuz I think they should SPLIT THE TITLES!

 

7. Make the show more unpredictable...same for Raw too. I'd like to see more action, and less skits, whether it's in-ring action itself or even just backstage attacks, run-ins and stuff like that. Also, don't be so damn scared to have faces fight each other. I mean let's take Hogan and HHH for example. I realized they wanted both men to be face, but if Hogan beat him for the title on a fluke, why would he be angry only at Undertaker and not Hogan? Seriously, from a mark standpoint, I think it would've been great if at Backlash, instead of shaking Hogan's hand if he just gave him the Pedigree and then went after Taker. Yeah, he would've gotten heel heat, but he'd probably get a lot of that face heat back on Raw by attacking Taker, and on the plus side, you'd have the fans more interested in a Hogan/HHH rematch. Same goes for heels too. I liked the Angle/Jericho alliance, but I would've loved to see them at each others throats trying to get a shot at the Undisputed title. Stuff like that only does more to increase the importance of the title.

 

That's about it. And for the record, I'm not bitching or complaining about the show, cuz I actually like Smackdown most weeks, but these are just a few things I'd like to see.

[Guest]

5. Let the fans make up their own minds who they like and don't like...and this mainly goes to Tajiri's heel turn. I mean the week after Tajiri lost the CW title, Torrie comes out in a kimono (sp?) and Cole immediately starts selling Tajiri as a jerk and an idiot. He hadn't even done anything heelish yet, and it seemed like Cole just turns on him overnight. Like I said back then, the announcers shouldn't hafta tell the fans why they should like or hate a wrestler, the fans should be able to make that conclusion themselves. I guess Mark Henry goes in here too. Why should we like him? Because he can bend a frying pan? Because he can lift cars? His feats of strength aren't interesting to me, because you know the WWF wouldn't ask him to do it if he couldn't. It just seems like they're trying too hard to get us to like him. Although I do kinda like the thing with him and Faarooq, I think they should let the fans decide that they like him before they start pushing him over guys like Storm and Val.

You can attribute that to Michael Cole's horrid broadcasting skills and the fact that Taz refuses to ever completely side with the heel(his job as heel commentator). He supports Angle over Edge... but then admits Edge's spiel with the shirt switch was funny. At first, he starts saying things like Tajiri put Torrie in her place... but then when he throws her at Kidman, Taz says that was just uncool. He should be calling Mark Henry's feats of strength flukes. My point is, you're right, the fans should decide who they do and don't like, but the broadcasters were always supposed to help that along. With such little skill behind the broadcast booth, I really don't see many heel/face turns below the main event going very smoothly.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

no vince-stacy segments ever ever again. please...

 

that's my main problem with smackdown, other than hogan,hhh,mark henry,test,cole and tazz,etc.

[Guest muzanisa]

No Vince segments.

Hogan out or use him like they used Bruno in the 80's

Sack the writers who think it's a good idea to feud over T-Shirts.

Push the cruisers

[Guest Will Scarlet]

. Let the fans make up their own minds who they like and don't like...and this mainly goes to Tajiri's heel turn. I mean the week after Tajiri lost the CW title, Torrie comes out in a kimono (sp?) and Cole immediately starts selling Tajiri as a jerk and an idiot.

 

Actually, this is something that has pretty much gone over the heads of about 99% of the people watching.  If I remember correctly, in Japanese culture, a geisha is basically a prostitute.  The problem being is that, while almost everyone watching has probably heard the word "geisha" and can connect to having something to do with women in earlier Japanese times, I would take a wild guess that not many people truly know what it means and why it is considered "demeaning" to dress like one.  So, in a way, Tajiri is basically saying she is a whore.

 

This is a case where the WWF is overestimating the intelligence of its audience.  Tajiri is doing something heelish here, in theory, but no one actually understands it, and basically thinks that he is embarrassing her by making her wear more clothing.  It is one of those things the WWF should try to explain to make the angle a bit more effective.  I am just happy I am a history buff who happens to be a Tajiri mark because otherwise this angle would confuse the heck out of me.

[Guest the living legend]

Whats with the Smackdown bashing. Smackdown has been kicking ass in ring wise until Hogan shows up. I fall asleep during RAW i can't take it. The way to improve Smackdown is to ditch the geezer. I mean its so stupid listening to Tazz saying wow Hogan is so kool with sagging muscles and red bandanas. Once hes gone and maybe McMahon can stop living out his fantasies on TV. Edge's lines are weak but his promo skills are good the writers just seem to think that "you suck" is the perfect punchline to everything. Jericho rules and deserves to be numero uno heel. Both Venis and Storm are great and should continue their feud. The cruiserweights are moving slowly. And Torrie will leave Taijiri for Kidman at Judgment Day. Then Hurricane and someone else will be in their.

[Guest]

I really hate to say this, but Dump the Tag Belts. They're useless at this point. Oh, and throwing Tag teams together out of the blue and giving them title shots (i.e. Rikishi,Helms) isn't the answer. I thought Chuck & Suck was feuding w/ Al & Maven? What happen? Stupid shit like that is the main problem.

[Guest AM The Kid]

Move it to Tuesday. There is too many good shows on TV on Thursdays...and absolutly nothing on Tuesday. Make it live too!

[Guest]

I'm sure Vince will do anything to make ratings go higher, except drop the Vince/Stacy segments.

[Guest Dick Hertz]

First of all, Tazz and Michael Cole absolutely suck. Really, really bad. Personally ive only heard raven and "the coach" once or twice but its already better than listening to tazz babbling incoherently and making corny jokes. Or find someone fresh and new ideally. I dont know who but there has to be someone, somewhere within the 6 billion people on this planet who can make it sound fresh and new. Preferably someone younger that the younger audences can relate to better, (the same goes for that hack JR, god he sucks)

 

Secondly,fire the writers. I dont know who they are, but fire them. They have fucked up everything theyve touched. In some cases you say to yourself "even the WWF cant fuck this up" then they manage to do just that. They fucked up the wcw invasion, the stone cold heel turn, and for the most part the NWO thing, (although I still feel that is salvagable if they throw HBK in there or sign Scott Steiner.) They managed to turn Booker T into a joke. There is virtually no tag team division.

 

Third, after he fights stone cold get the belt off of hogan. He needs the belt to do the raw thing right now, but after that get it off of him. The sooner the better. I personally still find him entertaining as hell, but hogan having the belt is a joke. Give it to someone completely new like Goldberg or Scott Steiner, fuck, maybe even Brock Lesnar. People have seen SCSA, the Rock, an HHH with the belt before. Its just doing the same shit over and over again. Putting the belt on one of those 3 guys will generate major new interest. Fuck, putting the belt on Lesnar couldnt be any worse than hogn having it right now.

[Guest]

I saw this in the Fantasy Booking forum:

 

Dump the Euro. and Hardcore titles and merge them into one title that is defended on both shows.  

 

They should also stop titles from changing hands so quickly, can somebody hold a tilte more than one month anyore?  The Tag Team division is inefficient, so they should dump them to, Tag Teams should now be formed out of rivalries.  Have only McMahon on the show at a time.

[Guest HartFan86]

I'm sure Vince will do anything to make ratings go hire, except drop the Vince/Stacy segments.

That is SO true.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

I saw this in the Fantasy Booking forum:

 

Dump the Euro. and Hardcore titles and merge them into one title that is defended on both shows.  

 

They should also stop titles from changing hands so quickly, can somebody hold a tilte more than one month anyore?  The Tag Team division is inefficient, so they should dump them to, Tag Teams should now be formed out of rivalries.  Have only McMahon on the show at a time.

It's funny you should mention lack of long title reigns and then the staleness of the tag division so close together, considering the main reason the titles are so stale is because Chuckabilly have seemingly had them forever.

 

I don't think it's the length of title reigns that are hurting them, it's the lack of direction. Like many have complained, what exactly happened to the Chuckabilly/Tough Enough Crew feud? They had some issue, and then it was just forgotten about and they're facing the mish-mash team to slay all mish-mash teams, Rikishi and Hurricane. What's the point of even having tag titles if they're going to be defended in throw-away matches like those?

 

Same goes for the Euro title, but then again that title never meant anything to begin with. The women's title has been around Jazz for a while now, but what meaningfull feud has she been in? When you're acting as a lacky for Steven Richards, you know you're at a career low.

[Guest]

In Jazz' defense. I think she's one of the better things to happen with the WWF Women's title. Jazz and Trish should TRY to get into some type of Gimmick match at Judgment Day. NO, I'm not saying Bra and Panties or anything silly like that! I'm thinking No DQ or Falls count anywhere. Something new for the women to work with instead of the lame ass shit that usually goes on.

 

I think Trish and Jazz could pull it off. BUT, it would never happen because the WWF would fear it would out shine the Mid-card to main event guys.

[Guest Risk]

1: The WWF has given me TOO many BAD memories.  They should completly start over with new champions and differant talent.  

 

2: Fire EVERY active wrestler fourty or over.  Wrestling is a young man's game.  

 

3: Hire talented wrestlers who AREN'T steriod injected freaks.

 

4: Fire has-beens like Nash, Michaels, and Hogan.

 

5: Give Triple H time off to heal and lose at least thirty pounds.

 

6: Fire ALL the writers except Heyman.

 

7: Hire NEW writers like Zenk, Dreamer, Raven, Taylor, Foley, Flair, Anderson, and Malenko.

 

8: End the split after getting rid of some of the "dead weight."

 

9: Have three championship titles: Undisputed title, Contender title, and Tag Team titles.

 

10: No more house shows so that wrestlers can get the rest they deserve.

 

Questions?  Comments?  Ideas?

[Guest]

Question/Comment: Zenk?!?!?!?!?!? I would rather See Jake Robert's on the writing team before him!

[Guest]

1: The WWF has given me TOO many BAD memories.  They should completly start over with new champions and differant talent.  

 

2: Fire EVERY active wrestler fourty or over.  Wrestling is a young man's game.  

 

3: Hire talented wrestlers who AREN'T steriod injected freaks.

 

4: Fire has-beens like Nash, Michaels, and Hogan.

 

5: Give Triple H time off to heal and lose at least thirty pounds.

 

6: Fire ALL the writers except Heyman.

 

7: Hire NEW writers like Zenk, Dreamer, Raven, Taylor, Foley, Flair, Anderson, and Malenko.

 

8: End the split after getting rid of some of the "dead weight."

 

9: Have three championship titles: Undisputed title, Contender title, and Tag Team titles.

 

10: No more house shows so that wrestlers can get the rest they deserve.

 

Questions?  Comments?  Ideas?

It's all great, but what is the "Contendor's" Title?

[Guest Risk]

Contender title.  It's like the secondary belt.

[Guest]

Contender title.  It's like the secondary belt.

An equivalent to what the "IC" belt once was?

[Guest]

I think it has to do with the contender for the World Title has his own belt which is bascially stupid because why would the #1 contender want a belt when it's the championship belt the contender is chasing!

 

My ideas to make SmackDown better is to first, if Vince has to be on t.v., make him have a feud or something and not just live out his perverted old man fantasies with Stacy. Make him have a reason to be there like he had when he feuded with Austin.

 

Second, cruiserweights on SmackDown is a good idea but let them have their own backstage skits or better yet have them have promos to show the fans who they are. Most of the cruiserweights are WCW wrestlers so put some WCW footage together to show their action.

 

Thrid, get the title off of Hogan. I liked the nostalgia trip but now it is quite sad to see Hogan forcing himself to wrestle at age 48.

 

Fourth, BRING BACK THE ROCK!!!! No matter what. No matter how boring a show maybe, the moment Rocky takes the mic, I light up! And he can carry anybody.

 

Finally, some interesting storylines. No feuds based on shampoo or t-shirts. Whatever happen to the old fashioned, "You turned your back on me, so I'm going to kick your ass." Or "You ruined my chance at the title, so now you're gonna pay." Or "I want your belt." And debut more wrestlers from the OVW. We need more young wrestlers today.

 

Finally, merge together. The split sucks.

[Guest]

How about some cutting-edge storylines like the WWF used to have circa 1998?

[Guest TheyCallMeMark]

2. Take Vince McMahon off tv.

 

I digress. Vince cuts good heel promos and gets tons of heat. Now, I think they should be using him as some kind of asshole heel ringleader, not in his current horny old man role.

 

3. Move a couple of main eventers/upper mid carders to Raw, so some new midcarders can move up. My suggestions would be Jericho and Edge. This would also strengthen Raw.

 

Strengthen Raw, which is already doing fine, and completely cripple Smackdown. Great idea.

 

4. Make it live. I find myself not being excited for Smackdown, because I know it has already been taped and I've read what is going to happen. Raw has an anything can happen feel.

 

You reading spoilers is their fault how exactly?

 

I pretty much agree with everything else.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

I sincerely doubt the WWF will drop any title that's previously been WWF.  There's no way they'd ever axe the tag belts in particular.

 

That said: just start moving people up the card.  Give someone like Booker T or Lance Storm or Val Venis, or hell, anyone who can go in the ring, a match against a current main eventer.  Let the main eventer win, but have the match go ten minutes and have lots of "ohhhhh!" close falls for the rising star.  Repeat the next week with another big star.  Next show give the rising guy a win against one of the two guys that plays as an upset (i.e., reversing out of a finisher into a roll-up or a surprise move), and you've got a new upper midcarder who just got over on 30 minutes of wrestling.  Remember how huge everyone was in to Jericho after he got the fluke win on HHH in April 2000?  It's not that hard.

 

The biggest problem I see with the WWF these days is that they make everything way more complicated then it needs to be.  I guess part of it has to do with the veterans "holding down new talent" or whatever, but seriously folks, who writes this crap?  If you have a guy who can wrestle well, it should NOT be that hard to get the crowd behind him one way or another.  One of the few bright ideas WCW had in their dying days was making huge stars out of Lance Storm and Booker T, and all it took in each case was a few good matches, a simple character, and TV time to show off their stuff.

 

They've kind of got the idea with Edge right now, I'll give the writers that.  Now let's see them do it with a few more people.